


Dimensional Shift

by Fearfulpixie



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Insults, Kidnapping, Yelling, fake celestial events
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-27
Updated: 2020-05-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:26:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23339125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fearfulpixie/pseuds/Fearfulpixie
Summary: This is a remake of an old fanfic that I made. Our character is swept away from her world into one she knows well. Maybe too well.
Relationships: Original Character/Bruce Banner, Original Character/Clint Barton, Original Character/Maria Hill, Original Character/Natasha Romanoff, Original Character/Nick Fury, Original Character/Steve Rogers, Original Character/Tony Stark, original character/Phil Coulson, original character/Thor
Comments: 1
Kudos: 2





	1. Chapter 1

It was too hot for everyone to be gathered in one place like they currently were. Then again everyone was excited about watching the once in a millennia phenomenon known as the Copernican Celestial Alignment. It was one of the rarest astrological events to occur. Everyone was wearing bright colors, some people wore glitter, others had copious amounts of glow sticks on their arms and legs.   
Sydney seemed out of place in comparison, wearing only shorts and a t-shirt, only there out of boredom. She kicked at a rock near her foot when everyone started getting quiet. She looked up, curiosity getting the better of her. The sky quickly darkened, becoming pitch black for a moment, and then colors started flashing through the sky. Bright blues, deep purples, soft yellows, any color you could think of, it was there in the sky.   
Sydney felt her feet get swept out from underneath herself as if she was free-falling. She hit the ground with a heavy thud, her elbow slamming against a rock. Her stomach felt like it was in her throat, the air knocked out of her lungs, and her heart-beat pounded in her ears. She sprawled out on her back, focusing on taking deep breaths.   
When she opened her eyes she noticed that there was no one around her. She bolted upright, confusion and fear coursing through her veins. Slowly she got ahold of herself, she wasn’t sure how she got where she was, hell she didn’t even know where she was at all! Getting off the ground she brushed herself off. It was cold, much colder than where she lived.  
The girl shivered slightly, rubbing her arms for warmth. She was in an abandoned field it seemed, the only structure nearby that she could make out was a small, half-destroyed shack. Hearing cars speeding by in the distance, she headed towards the sound. Eventually reaching the road she followed it until she came across a small gas station.   
The bell to the door sounded as she entered, goosebumps apparent on her arms and legs. The lady at the register looked up at her as she came in, giving Sydney a small smile.  
“How can I help you, dear?” The lady says, looking at Sydney’s attire.   
“Um, I’m not sure…” Sydney responded, looking around the store. “Could you tell me where I am exactly? I seem to be… lost?”  
“You’re right outside of New York City.” The lady tells her, obviously concerned. “Sweetie, do you need me to call someone for help?” Sydney shakes her head no. “Are you sure? You’re wearing shorts in the cold and don’t know where you’re at. That sounds like something I need to call in about.”  
“Please don’t,” Sydney pleaded. “I’m fine really. I just, I can’t remember how I got here. I get how that sounds but, I’m fine really. I don’t want to be a bother to anyone.”  
The lady bit her lip and reached for the phone. “I’m sorry dear, but I have to call this in. I wouldn’t know what to do if you got hurt or something because I didn’t call.” She was about to dial the numbers when a strange noise seemingly came out of nowhere.   
Turning towards the noise both Sydney and the cashier were shocked to see it coming from a helicopter that was landing in the street. Sydney took a step backward, knocking over some chips from a shelf. Three men in suits exited the helicopter and headed straight for the doors of the gas station. The bell chimed once they opened the door and stepped in. Sydney watched as a man that looked a lot like Clark Gregg smiled at the cashier and then at her.  
“Sorry to cause a ruckus, but I need to speak to whichever of you is, let’s say new in town.” The man said. The cashier lady just pointed at Sydney, muttering something under her breath.   
Sydney looked at the two other men standing by the door, to the man that was now standing in front of her before deciding to try and bolt passed all three of them. She didn’t make it farther than a couple of feet before she was grabbed by one of the men and pinned against the glass door. She squirmed under their grasp, trying desperately to escape before her head was slammed against the door, knocking her unconscious.   
“I was hoping we wouldn’t have to resort to that.” The man said, motioning for the other two to put her in the helicopter. He turned to the cashier and walked over to her. “Sorry for the mess, you’ll be compensated for your time. Oh, and please don’t speak to anyone about this. Have a good one, ma’am.” he said, leaving in the helicopter.  
“Agent Coulson, Director Fury wants to speak with you when we get back to the carrier.” The pilot says half-way through the flight. Coulson looks over to the unconscious girl and nods. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sydney woke up in a small room, her head pounding. Slowly sitting up on her cot she looked around. The fluorescent lights buzzed ever so slightly. She stood up and walked over to the door, finding it locked. She immediately started to panic, her head getting worse with every terrible thought about all the possible scenarios she was in right now. The door unlocked as two people entered the room. Sydney backed as far away from them as possible, avoiding eye-contact.   
“Hello, I’m Agent Coulson.” The man from earlier said. “And this is my colleague, Agent Hill. We would like to ask you some questions if you’re alright with that.” Sydney looked at him confused, a small forced chuckle leaving her throat.  
“What?” Sydney asks. “Coulson? Hill? Do they really think I’m going to fall for a prank like this?”  
“We want to ask you some questions.” Agent Hill said, eyeing Sydney carefully.   
“This is a joke, right? You guys can’t really be, well, you know…” Sydney looked at the two people in front of her.   
“I assure you, this is not a joke,” Coulson said, his tone shifting.   
“We need to ask you some questions alright?” Hill said again, her voice sterner. Sydney nodded. “Alright then, let’s start simple, your name?”  
“Sydney.” She answered, looking at them closer. “This isn’t real, right? It’s not possible! But, I can read everything they’re writing so it’s not a dream. Maybe if I play along a bit longer I can figure something out?”  
“No last name?” Coulson asks, eyebrow raised. Sydney looked at the ground.  
“Not really one I care to have,” she responds.   
“Alright, where are you from?” Coulson asks, not prying more on the name.  
“Iowa. Des Moines to be specific.” Sydney relaxes slightly.  
“How did you get here?” Hill asked. Sydney opens her mouth to respond but shut it, quickly realizing she had no clue either. She shrugs. “You don’t know how you got to our planet?”  
“Planet? What do you mean? We’re on earth, aren’t we?” Sydney chuckled. Hill and Coulson look at her confused. “What?”  
“Sydney, you appeared out of nowhere right after we were notified of an energy burst. That’s how we found you.” Coulson tells her. “You don’t remember where you were before earth?”  
“I’ve never left!” Sydney clenches her fist, frustrated. “I don’t know what you’re doing or why, but this prank needs to stop like now.”  
“This isn’t a prank,” Hill says. “Sydney, you don’t exist in any database we can find. We’ve run your prints and DNA through every possible search, nothing has come up. Not a distant relative, nothing. So how did you get here?”  
“I don’t know!” Sydney yelled. “One moment I was in Des Moines, celebrating this stupid event and the next thing I know, I’m freezing in some stupid field and then I get kidnapped from a gas station and now I’m here, talking to you!!”   
“Why do you keep saying this is a prank?” Coulson asks calmly. Sydney looks at him like he’s stupid.  
“For one, Phil Coulson isn’t real. Two neither is Maria Hill. And you’re telling me I don’t exist? You’re the ones that don’t exist! You’re comic book characters, fiction, made-up, played by actors.” Sydney desperately says. Coulson and Hill look at each other as if they’ve just realized something. “What? What is that look you’re giving each other?”  
“I mean, it would explain a lot.” Hill says to Coulson, ignoring the freaked out girl “Why she doesn’t exist, no family of any kind, nothing because-”  
“Because she’s from another universe. One where we don’t exist other than in works of fiction.” Coulson finished. He looked at Sydney.   
“Another universe? You think I’m from another universe?” Sydney started laughing before noticing their serious looks. “You-you’re serious?”  
“Deadly,” Coulson put away his notepad. “We’ll be back shortly. We need to talk to our supervisor.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The beginning of The Avengers.

Sydney wasn’t sure how long she was in the room. It seemed like she’d been stuck there for hours upon hours. The Agents had gone to talk to their superior, leaving her in a state of uncertainty. There were so many questions swirling in her mind that she couldn’t stand up without feeling dizzy. She’s from a different universe? She doesn’t exist? She didn’t even notice when someone entered the room.  
“Sydney, right?” The man asked. She looked up at him, not even flinching when she realized who it was that was speaking with her. She nodded slowly. “I take it you know who I am?”  
“You’re Director Nick Fury,” Sydney responded, taking a deep breath to calm herself down a bit more. “Please tell me I’m dreaming or something. Hell, I’d be fine with being in a coma in the world’s worst hospital.”  
“Sorry, can’t do that.” Fury sat down next to her on the cot. “I understand that there isn’t any possible way of knowing what you’re going through right now, but I’d assume that you know a lot about us and what’s going to happen.”  
“Up to a point,” Sydney said, looking him in the eye. “I don’t remember every little detail, but I remember the major points.”  
“You wouldn’t happen to want to share any of those points would you?” Fury asks. Sydney shakes her head no. “Good. You could mess up the timeline if you did.”  
“So, Director, what are you going to do with me?” she looks at her hands. “What secret S.H.I.E.L.D. prison do I get the joy of staying at?” He lets out a chuckle.  
“None. You’re a threat to the world if the wrong people get their hands on you. So, I’m going to keep you nearby.” Fury said standing up. “Unless you want to go to one of those secret prisons?” he joked.  
“No thanks.” Sydney put her head in her hands. “Could you at least tell me where in the timeline we are?”  
“Come find out for yourself. You’re getting another helicopter ride, this time with me.” Fury opens the door. “I don’t like waiting so hurry up.” Sydney gets off the cot and follows behind him silently.  
“Will I actually be conscious this time? Or am I going to get my head scrambled again?” Sydney tries to joke. Fury gives her a look and she keeps her mouth shut from then on. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The helicopter ride was terrible. Not only was Sydney deathly afraid of flying, but her head was still pounding from earlier. Her stomach felt like it was trying to escape her body. Every slight bump made her want to throw up more and more. When they finally landed she bolted as fast as possible out of the helicopter.  
“I take it you don’t fly much?” Hill said, exiting the copter. Sydney shook her head. “Well, you better get used to it. Soon.”   
“I’m not going to make any promises,” Sydney mutters.   
Around her is utter chaos. People are running out of the building, alarms for evacuation sound. Fury struts past Sydney towards Agent Coulson.  
“How bad is it?” Fury asks, continuing to walk with Coulson next to him.  
“That’s the problem, sir. We don’t know.” Coulson admits. Coulson leads them to the radiation section of the facility. People pass them, rushing the exits. “Dr. Selvig read an energy surge from the Tesseract four hours ago.”  
“NASA didn’t authorize Selvig to test phase.” Fury looked upset.   
“He wasn’t testing it, he wasn’t even in the same room. Spontaneous advancement.” Coulson replied.   
“It just turned itself on?” Hill asked, confused.  
“What are the energy levels now?” Fury demanded.  
“Climbing.” Coulson brushed past a scientist. “When Selvig couldn’t shut it down, we ordered the evac.”  
“How long to get everyone out?” asked Fury.  
“Campus should be clear in the next half hour,” Coulson admitted.  
“Do better.” Fury ordered and Coulson headed to help. “Sydney, you seem awfully calm right now. I take it you know what’s happening?”  
“Yep,” Sydney said. “Loki’s grand entrance is happening.”  
“Sir, evacuation may be futile,” Hill tells Fury. He turns to her.  
“We should tell them to go back to sleep?” He tilts his head.  
“If we can’t control the Tesseract’s energy, there may not be a minimum safe distance.” The agent explains.  
“I need you to make sure the phase 2 prototypes are shipped out.” Fury orders her.  
“Sir, is that really a priority right now?” Hill seems taken aback slightly.  
“Until such a time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on. Clear out the tech below.” Fury glances at Sydney. “Every piece of phase 2 on a truck and gone.”  
“Yes, sir.” Hill turns to the agents that followed them down. “With me,” she says, leading them away.  
“Sydney, you’re with me.” Fury heads into the lab where the Tesseract is. Sydney follows him begrudgingly. “Talk to me, doctor.”  
“Director,” Selvig says, emerging from behind a machine. The Tesseract is glowing brightly and rings of energy flare out at random.  
“Is there anything we know for certain?” Fury asks, watching the cube.  
“Tesseract is misbehaving,” Selvig tells him. Fury shoots him a look.  
“Is that supposed to be funny?” the Director asks. Sydney looks around the room, keeping the position of the door in the back of her mind.  
“No, it’s not funny at all. The Tesseract is not only active, she’s…” Selvig sighs. “Misbehaving.”  
“How soon until you pull the plug?” Fury inquires.  
“She’s an energy source. We turn off the power, she turns it back. If she reaches peak level…” Selvig takes a deep breath.  
“We’ve prepared for this, doctor.” Fury looks around. “Harnessing energy from space.”  
“We don’t have the harness.” Selvig desperately explains. “Our calculations are far from complete. Now she’s throwing off interference, radiation. Nothing harmful, low level of gamma radiation.”  
“That can be harmful.” Fury and Sydney say at the same time.   
“Where’s Barton?” Fury asks. The doctor smiles slightly.  
“The Hawk? Up in his nest, as usual.” Selvig points. Fury walks towards him slightly.  
“Agent Barton, report,” Fury says into the earpiece. Sydney watches as he rappels down from his perch and walks over to them. “I gave you this detail so you could keep a close eye on things.”  
“I see better from a distance,” Clint tells him, smirking slightly.  
“You see anything that might set this thing off?” Fury asks.  
“No one’s come or gone.” Barton eyed Sydney. “It’s oven is clean. No contacts, no I.M.’s. If there was any tampering it wasn’t done at this end.”  
“This end?”  
“Yeah, the cube is a doorway to the other end of space, right? Well, doors open from both sides.” Clint explains.  
The Tesseract starts shaking the entire building. The cube’s glow grows and the flares get louder and bigger. The energy builds into a beam and hits the end of the platform, creating a black hole. A figure appears on the platform, breathing heavily.   
“Sir, please put down the spear.” Fury pointed a gun at Loki. Loki looks at his spear and shoots it at Fury, Barton, and Sydney. Barton tackled Sydney and the Director, getting the three of them out of the way of the blast.  
Everyone immediately starts shooting at Loki. Sydney made her way towards the door, careful to not draw attention to herself. Loki easily tore through all the soldiers. He stalks over towards where Barton was.   
“You have heart,” Loki says, putting his spear against Barton’s chest. Barton’s eyes go pure black momentarily. As Loki gains control of several agents, Fury takes this as a chance to grab the Tesseract. Fury heads towards the door with the case holding the cube.  
“Please don’t. I still need that,” Loki says, pointing at the case.  
“This doesn’t need to get any messier.” Fury says turning towards Loki.  
“Of course it does.” Loki snarls. “I’ve come too far for anything else. I am Loki, of Asgard, and I am burdened with glorious purpose.”  
“Loki? Brother of Thor?” Selvig says, hopeful. Loki frowned.  
“We have no quarrel with your people,” Fury says.  
“An ant has no quarrel with a boot,” Loki smirks. Sydney backed against the exit.  
“You planning to step on us?” Fury raised his eyebrows.  
“I come with glad tidings, of a world made free.”   
“Free of what?” Fury looks at the ceiling.  
“Freedom. Freedom is life’s greatest lie. Once you accept that in your heart…” Loki puts the scepter to Selvig’s chest. “You will know peace.”  
“Yeah, you say peace, but I kind of think you mean the other thing.” Fury tells him. The cloud of energy above everyone growing more.  
“Sir, Director Fury is stalling. This place is about to blow.” Clint says walking over to Loki. “Hundred feet of rock. He means to bury us.”  
“Like the pharaohs of old.” Fury smirks. Sydney slips out the door quietly and runs towards the rooftop. The building is shaking uncontrollably. She quickly enters the helicopter, followed moments after by Fury who is limping slightly.  
The helicopter follows Barton’s truck. As soon as the helicopter is over the truck Fury opens the door and starts shooting at Barton. Loki retaliates, sending a blast of energy towards the helicopter. It lights on fire and goes into a spin. Fury grabs Sydney and pulls her out of the helicopter moments before it crashes. He shoots at the truck, soon talking to Coulson over the comms.   
“The Tesseract is with the hostile force. I have men down,” Fury says. “Hill?” He stays quiet, listening to her answer. Sydney stands up, in utter shock of what just happened. “Sound the general call. I want every living soul not working rescue looking for that briefcase. Coulson, get back to base. This is a level 7, as of now we are at war.” Fury looks up at the sky and sighs.  
“This is actually happening,” Sydney mutters, looking at Fury. “That was actually Loki and Barton. I...how is any of this happening?”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not much plot, mostly just a filler chapter.

Sydney was in her “room” once again. Her mind was still racing, trying to wrap itself around everything she’d seen and been told. Fury and Sydney were both checked out in the medical bay, and once she was cleared they escorted her to her room, telling her to wait until someone comes to get her. They locked the door once they left, leaving her alone with her thoughts.  
“What am I going to do?” Sydney thought. “I don’t exist here? How am I going to survive? I could live in the woods somewhere, maybe I can learn to farm? Find a nice cave and live there, away from everyone? No, that sounds lonely. I don’t want to be alone forever.”  
There was a quick knock at her door before it opened. Director Fury walked in and motioned for her to follow. She quickly followed, stumbling over her own two feet. She caught a glimpse of her reflection in a glass window, noticing that she was still in her summer clothes. She looked like a zombie, hair covered in dust, clothes slightly torn and singed. She was a mess.  
“Hurry up and clean off. There’s a set of clean clothes in there and a sink and brush. Agent Streeter here will escort you to the bridge when you’re done.” Fury stopped in front of a bathroom door. Agent Streeter stood next to it, a curt nod in Fury’s direction.  
“Yeah, thanks,” Sydney said, stepping into the restroom. She closed the door, locking it. She took off her dirty clothes, folding them and setting them on the counter. She had bruises on her from the jump out of the helicopter. She looked at her back seeing the scars from her life before. “At least I’m away from that.” She sighed.  
Sydney put on the clean clothes, a small smile on her lips. She turned the sink on and dunked her head under the faucet, careful to not get any water on her new outfit. She rinsed out as much dirt as she could, grabbing the handtowel nearby to dry her hair. Brushing her hair to the side she cleaned her face. The goose-egg from before at the gas station was still there, but she shrugged it off not caring. She exited the bathroom, her old clothes in her hands. She felt much better.  
“Alright. Let’s go.” Sydney told Agent Streeter.   
“I can take those for you, ma’am.” Agent Streeter motioned to the clothes. Sydney nodded, handing them to the agent. “Thank you. Now, follow me please.”   
The walk to the bridge was a short one. The agent pointed Sydney to a chair. Fury and Hill were at the console when Steve and Banner walked in. Steve handed Fury some money, staring in awe out the windows. Bruce was standing off to the side, away from everyone.  
“Doctor, thank you for coming.” Fury shakes Banner’s hand.   
“Thanks for asking so nicely. So, uh, how long am I staying for?” The scientist asks anxiously. Sydney felt bad for him, he just wanted to help people.  
“Once we get our hands on the Tesseract, you’re in the clear.” Fury told him.   
“And where are we with that?” Banner asks. Fury turms towards Agent Coulson.  
“We are sweeping every wireless accessible camera on the planet. Cellphone. Cameras. If it’s connected to a satellite, it’s got eyes and ears for us.” Coulson reports. Natasha sighs.  
“That’s still not going to find them in time.” She states.  
“We need to narrow the field.” Banner takes off his suit jacket. “How many spectrometers do you have access to?”  
“How many are there?” Fury asks, leaned over the railing.  
“Call every lab you know. Tell them to put their spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays.” Banner starts. “I’ll rough out a tracking algorithm based on cluster recognition. At least we could rule out a few places. Do you have a place for me to work?” He looks between Fury and Coulson.  
“Agent Romanoff,” Fury says, standing up straight. “Would you show Dr. Banner to his lab?” Natasha smirks as she walks off with Banner following behind.   
“You’re gonna love it, Doc. We got all the toys.” The assassin tells him. Sydney watched as the two walked away.   
“Sydney, I’m assuming you know who Agent Hill is?” Fury smirked. “I want her to teach you some, let’s say, self-defense.”  
“I’m fine.” Sydney squeaked. “I’d rather just get beaten to a pulp than fight someone.”  
“Too bad,” Hill said, grinning. “We already decided this is happening.”  
“No,” Sydney said, getting very serious, very quickly. Hill’s grin fell from her face. “You can keep me locked away in a tiny room, but I refuse to fight. I don’t care if it’s self-defense or sparring, I’m not doing it.”  
“This isn’t a negotiation, this is an order,” Hill said sternly. Sydney stood up from her seat, shaking from anger.  
“Order? It’s an order?” Sydney scoffed. By now everyone was watching the two of them, including Steve, who looked the most confused out of everybody. “Well, newsflash! I’m not one of your fucking agents. I don’t give a shit about your order.”  
“Sydney, Agent Hill, I suggest you two either calm down or take your argument elsewhere.” Fury said, trying to keep the peace. Hill bit her tongue, not saying whatever it was she was about to say.   
“No. You and your agents have done nothing but make everything worse since you kidnapped me from that gas station. I’ve either been in a tiny ass room with nothing, or I’ve been told what to do and where to go, constantly watched by agents that I don’t trust.” Sydney stomps over towards Fury. “You don’t get to tell me how to handle my emotions and you absolutely do not get to tell me to calm down when you haven’t given me a single moment to process anything that has happened in the past couple days.”  
“I apologize that I’ve been dealing with running an entire secret government agency that is currently dealing with a level 7 threat. I’m assuming you know what that means.” Fury says, stepping towards Sydney, looming over her. “I don’t know what your problem is, but you are no longer in your own world. So when I say you need to learn self-defense, I mean it. Get over whatever your issue is.”  
“I. Don’t. Need it.” Sydney growled. “When I say I’d rather be beaten than fight, it isn’t because I can’t fight. It’s because last time I did I sent three people to a hospital.” Fury raises his eyebrow. “So back off.”  
Sydney stormed out just as they got a match on Loki. Two agents followed her as she left. She kept walking, not knowing where she was heading or what she was doing. She just knew that she was tired and hungry and now she was pissed. She just wanted to go somewhere no one would find her for a while.


	4. Chapter 4

Sydney found herself standing in front of Dr. Banner’s lab. The two agents that had been following her looked at each other, uncertain of whether or not they should let her in. They didn’t get the chance to pull her away from the doors before she walked in herself. The doctor turned to her, confused.  
“Can I help you?” Bruce asked, looking at the two agents behind her.  
“Probably not.” Sydney sighed, looking at one of the many screens. “I just wanted to ask you something, Dr. Banner. That is if you don’t mind.”  
“Not at all, miss, uh, sorry I don’t know your name.” He takes off his glasses.  
“Oh, right. My name’s Sydney. No last name, just Sydney.” she runs her hand through her hair. “But, um, that doesn’t matter. Actually, you know what? This is dumb, I’m just going to leave you to it. Sorry for the interruption.” she turned to walk out the door.  
“You want to know how I stay calm right? Like everyone else?” Banner sighed. Sydney chuckled and shook her head.  
“No. I don’t care about that. I know you have control of him. I don’t care how or why or whatever.” Sydney turned towards him. “I just want to know how you can pretend that everything is fine?” Bruce looked taken aback. “Sorry. It’s out of line.”   
“Ma’am, the director wants us to take you to the briefing room.” One of the agents told her.   
“Let me guess, they’re almost back with Loki?” Sydney assumes. The agent nods. “Fine. Let’s go play pretend, I guess.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sydney was sitting at the conference table along with Steve, Bruce, Natasha, and Thor. Thor was standing away from the group, listening to Fury’s interrogation of Loki. After Fury had finished the room was silent. Everyone thinking about what they just heard.  
“He, uh, really grows on you, huh?” Banner jokes, trying to ease the situation.   
“Loki’s going to drag this out,” Steve says, turning to face Thor. “So, Thor, what’s his play?” Thor seemed to snap out of it.  
“He has an army,” Thor tells them. “Called the Chitauri. They’re not of Asguard or any world known. He means to lead them in a war against your people. In return, I suspect for the Tesseract.”  
“An army? From outer space?” Steve asks, shocked.  
“So, he’s building another portal. That’s what he needs Erik Selvig for.” Bruce took off his glasses, yet again. Sydney noticed he did it a lot.  
“Selvig?” Thor asked, standing up straighter.   
“He’s an astrophysicist.” Sydney and Bruce said at the same time.  
“He’s a friend.” Thor sighs.   
“Loki has him under some sort of spell,” Natasha speaks up. “Along with one of our own.”  
“I wanna know why Loki let us take him in,” Steve admits. “He’s not leading an army from in here.”  
“I don’t think we should be focusing on Loki. That guy’s brain is a big bag of cats, you can smell the crazy coming off him.” Bruce waves his glasses around. Thor glares at him.  
“Have a care how you speak. Loki is beyond reason, but his of Asguard, and he is my brother.” Thor warns.  
“He killed 80 people in 2 days,” Natasha told him.  
“He’s adopted.” Thor defends. Sydney chuckles, Thor looking her way.  
“Iridium, what did they need the iridium for?” Bruce asks aloud.  
“It’s a stabilizing agent!” Tony says, walking in with Coulson. He says something to Coulson, low enough no one else hears before he turns to the group. He smirks, tapping Thor’s arm as he passes by, heading for the control console. “No hard feelings, Point Break. You’ve got a mean swing. It means the portal can open as wide and stay open as long, as Loki wants.” He turns to the console and starts touching it randomly. “Uh, raise the mid-mast, ship the topsails. That man is playing GALAGA!” Tony points out. “Thought we wouldn’t notice, but we did.” He covers his eye. “How does Fury do this?”  
“He turns,” Hill says, already tired of Tony’s antics.  
“Well, that sounds exhausting,” Tony says, turning back around after placing the bug under the console. “The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. Only major component he still needs is a power source. A high energy density, something to kickstart the cube.”  
“When did you become an expert in thermonuclear dynamics?” Hill asked him.  
“He did it last night,” Sydney said before he had a chance to answer. “He read the packets and Selvig’s notes. Extraction theory, I believe?” Tony looked at her confused. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to interrupt.”  
“Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?” Steve asks.  
“He’s got to heat the cube to a hundred and twenty million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier.” Bruce states.  
“Unless Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the tunneling effect,” Tony responded, his attention turning to Bruce.  
“Well, if he could do that he could achieve Heavy Ion Fusion at any reactor on the planet.” Bruce took steps towards Tony.  
“Finally, someone who speaks English!” Tony exclaims, shaking his hand.  
“Is that what just happened?” Steve looks around the room.  
“It’s good to meet you, Dr. Banner. Your work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled.” Tony compliments. “And I’m a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster.”  
“Thanks.” Banner looks at the ground, seemingly disappointed. Sydney sends Tony a glare.  
“Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube,” Fury says as he walks in. “I was hoping you might join him.”  
“Let’s start with that stick of his,” Steve proposes. “It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon.”  
“I don’t know about that, but it is powered by the cube,” Fury says, looking around the room at each person. “And I’d like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys.”  
“Monkeys? I do not understand.” Thor says confused.  
“I do!” Steve says, proud of himself. “I understood that reference. Tony rolls his eyes.  
“Shal we play, doctor?” Tony asks Banner.  
“Let’s play some,” Bruce says, leading him to the lab.  
Fury looks at Sydney, who is staring intently at the live-feed of Loki’s cell. Her leg is bouncing up and down, shaking the table ever so slightly. He whispers something to Coulson who nods and leaves the room. He comes back moments later with bottled water and chips, setting them in front of Sydney.  
“Eat,” Coulson instructed. “It’s been how many hours since your last meal?”  
“I’m fine.” Sydney lied.   
“You haven’t eaten the entire time you’ve been here. And I somehow doubt you had any food before we picked you up,” Coulson sighed. Sydney silently grabbed the water and took a drink.   
“Fine.” Sydney caved in, opening the chips. “But you didn’t “pick me up” you kidnapped me, knockout included.”  
“And I apologize. We should’ve gone with a nicer approach.” He admits. Sydney crunches on a chip. “I’m hoping we can make it up to you somehow.”  
“Let me talk to him,” Sydney suggests, pointing to the feed.   
“No way,” Fury says, entering into the conversation. “You wouldn’t last two minutes.”  
“Maybe not, but I still want to talk to him. I have a question for him, it’s been bothering me for a long time.” Sydney puts the chips down. Thor is looking at her confused.  
“The answer is still no.” Fury tells her.   
“Fine then.” Sydney grins. “Then I want you to owe me one.”  
“Excuse me?” Fury asked.  
“If you won’t let me talk to Loki, then I want you to owe me,” She said.  
“Fine.” Fury gritted his teeth. “But you can’t use it to talk to Loki.”  
“Perfect!” Sydney grabbed her chips and water. “Are we done here? I’d like to go back to my wandering about.”  
“Nope, I want you to stick with Captain Rogers.” Fury smirked.  
“Why?” Sydney and Steve ask at the same time.  
“Because I trust him and I don’t trust you.” Fury stated. “Besides, I think you might have something in common with each other.”  
“Oh yeah?” Sydney scoffed. She wanted to be left alone.  
“Neither of you know much about this world.” Fury shrugs. “If you don’t want to then you could always go back to that tiny room.” Sydney thought for a moment, tiny room with nothing to do or ignoring Steve.  
“Fine, I’ll stay with the ice-pop.” Sydney conceded.   
“Do I get a say in this?” Steve asked Fury, looking at him.  
“No.” The director replied, turning to his console. “Now get out of here.”  
“Yes, sir.” Sydney mocked, turning to Steve. “I’m going to apologize in advance for my attitude. It’s got nothing to do with you.”  
“So what’s your name?” Steve asks her as they walk into the hall. “Or are you wanting me to come up with some random nick-name?”  
“Sydney,” she says, looking behind her, noticing there weren’t any agents following her this time.  
“Well, Sydney, it’s nice to meet you.” He says, trying to be nice.  
“You don’t need to do that you know,” Sydney tells him. He looks at her confused.  
“Wha-”  
“You don’t need to be kind to me.” She takes a drink of water. “You also don’t have to act like you aren’t upset at the situation. You just got woken up only to find out the Tesseract, that you already got rid of, is causing even more problems. Not to mention the entire world is different and you seem to be trying to process everything that’s happened, but you haven’t had the time to take a damn breath.”  
“Did Fury tell you about all of that?” Steve asks after a minute or two of silence. Sydney shakes her head.  
“No, I’m not… let’s just say I’m not from around here, alright?” Sydney gives him a small, sad smile.  
“Alright. Well, I’m not sure what that means, then again I’m not sure what a lot of things mean, but thank you.” Steve lets his smile drop for a second. “Not everyone understands or cares to try, so thank you for that.”  
“Fury was right about one thing, we do have something in common.” Sydney chuckles, trying to lighten the mood. Steve grins.  
“Yeah, you’re right.” He keeps walking, Sydney following behind him.


End file.
